With no excuse for a late start, it was a gentle pre-dawn ride up the Great Taste Trail towards Wakefield.

Rolling into Wakefield.

I caught up with some other riders at the bakery. It turned out that the only other two guys I’d seen briefly the day before were the two riders I spent most of the first day with battling down Ninety Mile Beach. The eccles cake at the bakery was one of the best I’d ever had – and I had a fair few while living in England. The steak pie for second-breakfast was also fantastic. I’d started to hear tales of a single-speeding Alaskan who’d come out especially for the Tour – he seemed to be noted for always carrying a few beers and stopping every so often for a drink and a quick smoke. So finally, I briefly met Zach before I rode off over to Tapawera.

It was a pleasant little ride through wide farmed valleys and then up over a bit of a climb through plantation pines. At the relaxed pace I was now going, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered in the opposite direction the previous year. Possibly because it wasn’t overly hot yet. I figured I had enough food still from stocking up in Wakefield, so skipped Tapawera and headed up the Tadmor Valley – the smell of hops heavy in the morning air.

Heading up to Dovedale.

There were plenty of old buildings to see; this one unusually was having a lot work done on it.

Through all the pasture, hop growing and orchards one could easily catch glimpses of what was the old railway. It was meant to connect Nelson to the rest of the South Island rail network, but over many decades it only made it about this far and the final seventy kilometre gap to Inangahua Junction was never filled. As use declined in the 1950s, the line was closed and removed over time. Now there were just plaques and signboards to read of it – the old station site at Kiwi was just off the course, but I passed it by.

Continuing up the valley, it finally got a bit steeper and changed back to pine forest. I was caught by Shelley & Ross from Dargaville and passed by the Touring Gentlemen from Auckland as I stopped to have lunch – the trees not tall enough yet to give any shade. Over the summit, the gravel road dropped back to the highway and there was one of those annoying winds coming up the valley that mean pedaling downhill was necessary. Ross & Shelley were stopped at a junction of highways, so I paused for a chat and more food – the ever-present buzzing of wasps were now joined by many sandflies intent on feasting on me.

I was pleased to have good company and we rolled off down the highway towards the turnoff to Lake Rotoroa. Despite having a climb up to the lake, Shelley set a good pace as the wind was now at our backs. We stopped to buy pop from a small store at a backpackers – it would have been pleasant, but the proprietor was a real complainypants and the sandflies were still rampant. I was relieved to leave and roll the short distance to the lake.

Leaving the highway and crossing the Buller River.

Another photo checkpoint – Lake Rotoroa.

The sandflies are notorious here.

Zach had caught up to us, the others all seemed to know each other well from the previous days and hundreds of miles. There was talk of Shelley having inadvertently booked accommodation in Murchison that had far more beds than she & Ross needed – it sounded preferable than going a few hours more over Maruia Saddle alone. I really did not want to get stuck staying in the rather dire motel in Springs Junction for the third time in a year. Plus, my biggest supporter, follwer & encourager, (sister) Adele, had somehow managed to get out of working Friday night and Saturday in Westport and may be able to pop over for dinner & to stay the night. Being more social with such good company sounded excellent – I think I was also still a little tired from the 265 km day to get the ferry as well.

The chatter about the upcoming Braeburn track climb seemed to be rather fearful; but I remembered it being OK from the other side (which started a lot lower), so wasn’t too worried. We all found that the seven percent climb for a couple of kilometres really wasn’t that bad and then it was just a long descent into Murchison and the pub. Late afternoon it was a nice cruise down through the valley chatting with Zach and explaining to a local farmer, once again, what all these people on loaded bikes were doing in his neck of the woods.

It was all very civilised finishing the day’s riding at five-thirty and going to the pub. I was surprised at just how cheap jugs of beer were in this part of the world. Out on the patio in the sun, we met the Gentleman Tourers again before Shelley & Ross turned up. Stocking up from the corner-store it was off to The Old Bank, our digs for the night. While plenty big enough for us, it wasn’t a particularly old Old Bank – the cinder block construction lacking any sort of character. Being a repurposed building, the layout was interesting – unfortunately we didn’t find any bullion lying around, but I wouldn’t have wanted to carry that anyway. But it more than served our needs with plenty of space, good showers and a good cafe for dinner next door.

I was thrilled Adele joined us for dinner, I’d not seen here since my move north eight months prior and there was plenty of catching up. Even better, she’d be able to join me for the next morning’s riding – this going a bit slower thing was definitely working out well.